Rhodesian Association of Western Australia

[LOGO] Bundu Times June/July 1997

EDITORIAL
Members add to our store of knowledge
I AM very pleased that so many of our members have contributed to the Association and Bundu Times this month.

Thank you to John Durbin for sending copies of Joyce Pretorius' poems plus a short biography, thank you to Eddie Preston for sending the article on Ian Smith and thank you to Julie Blick for sending in her poem "Fading".

We have also received books from Geoffrey Atkins and Dick and Val Lever to add to the RAWA library.

We have received a book "One Commando" a novel by Dick Gledhill about his years with R.L.I. One Commando. I will review it for our next edition.

Don Mclure has passed on to me extracts of "The Irish in Southern Africa" which, space permitting, I will also comment on.

Functions are also being well attended with more than 80 coming to the musical quiz night. There was a big variety of questions and additional contests which kept everybody on their toes. The pub nights, the first Friday of each month continue to be exceptionally sociable. I strongly encourage members to come.

I have now been editor for more than a year and I have met many new and wonderful people. The old adage "the more you put in, the more you get out" definitely applies. So it has been wonderful to get more response this month. Please note our upcoming activities, the bowling night and Sunday at Burswood and support them.

CLEM BARRATT
EDITOR

M'dalas Report

Wine flows on river cruise ON 13th March, 43 of our members went on a tour by coach and Captain Cook cruises. After leaving Wellington St at 9 am we stopped on the way to Fremantle for morning tea. At East St jetty we boarded our boat for a river cruise from Fremantle to Barrack St jetty. On board a cold lunch was served with adequate provision of wine and soft drinks. There was also a session of wine tasting with about 12 wines being presented. During the cruise up the river many points of interest were pointed out and the weather was perfect for the occasion. At Barrack St we then boarded our coach again for an afternoon run up to Hillarys, where we spent an hour before returning to Wellington St. This was a very enjoyable day - all for $24 each.

On 20th March our usual monthly meeting was held with an attendance of 46 members and visitors. After discussion of routine matters the Chairman circulated and tabled copies of Revenue & Expenditure account for M'dalas for the year to 31/12/96 and invited comment. When business of the meeting had been completed the Chairman introduced our speaker for the morning - Carole Bardwell who specialises in poetry. She entertained the audience with well-presented and very amusing poems, which were much appreciated. The M'dalas meeting of 17th April was attended by 48 members and three visitors - Anne Dick from Harare, who is visiting her son Stewart in Perth and Doug and Molly Dryborough, who emigrated from Harare to Perth last June.

Our very popular Margaret Craft has made a good recovery from the ordeal of a triple bypass heart operation. She is now at home and will be taking things quietly for a few weeks. A coach tour to York is being planned for May 29.

Lionel Miles, who recently spent five weeks in South Africa, gave his impressions of South Africa as it is today. Several other members also contributed items of news from Zimbabwe.

Doug Lyon

ANZAC DAY 1997

THE phone rang at 0430hrs waking me up for the 1997ANZAC day. This year was to be special as Veronica Emslie, my faithful reveille caller, was to join Gerry and I with her aunt, Monica, who was on a visit from England and is well into her eighties. I arrived to pick them up at 0510hrs and we donned our berets, checked our medals and then drove along the freeway to Kings Park. We noticed a large increase in traffic and arrived at our destination in good time.

In fact, the crowd was tremendous and we heard later that it was a record. It was 5.40am when the roll was called but instead of calling out the names of the individual associations, the column was organised into service order.

Navy first as the senior service, army followed by the airforce. During the placing of units the "RSM" called out in his best strine "British Navy."
A very English voice replied:"Don't you mean the Royal Navy?"
"I shouldn't let that worry you mate" was the quick rejoinder.
I fell in with our wreath next to other Commonwealth and British service organisations it being my turn to lay the wreath for the Rhodesian war dead this year.

Gerry with others were told that they could not join the parade and so made his way down to the crowded Cenotaph. Whilst standing there there was a running commentary broadcast to keep the huge crowd informed of the various battles that the Australians had been involved in all wars. On reaching the Cenotaph wreath layers were halted and the "Still" was sounded by the buglers. His Excellency, the Governor, resplendent in his uniform of a major-general placed the first wreath followed by the wreath-laying party. This was followed by the "Last Post" a two-minute "Silence" which was broken by gunfire. After this "Reveille" was sounded. Normally this would have ended the service but the Governor came forward and made an excellent speech.

He reminded the assembled crowd that many men and women had lost their lives defending the very freedom that Australians were able to enjoy today. He cited the bravery of a young officer and NCO in Korea. Their bravery and the sacrifice of others could not be forgotten and each generation had a responsibility for remembering it if we were to learn from history and not repeat past mistakes. He concluded by exhorting all present to strengthen family relationships with the aim of cutting the crime rate. I was very moved as I watched the young in the crowd, I really think that many understood what ANZAC Day was all about. So different from the year when Gerry and I were surrounded by anti-war demonstrators screaming abuse at us behind a police cordon.

I reflected how their right of free expression would have sounded under the brutal boot of a victorious Imperial Japanese Army. And so ended a very special Dawn Service. Our wreath as usual carried the following inscription:

IN MEMORY OF ALL RHODESIANS, BLACK AND WHITE, WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN ALL WARS. THEY WERE MEN OF MEN.

"THE SETTING SUN GLOWED UPON THEIR FACES, AS THEY LAY AT PEACE NEVER TO GROW OLD, FOREVER LOCKED IN YOUTHFUL TRACES, THEIR PAST DEEDS TIME AND TIME EXTOLLED."

As in past years I was in my reflective mood and remembered some of our own history. Did you know that in 1891 Rhodesian forces invaded Portuguese East Africa? Cecil Rhodes was most keen for the young colony to have its own port. After initial skirmishing the Portuguese were routed at Fort Macequece and retreated towards Beira. Britain was furious with Rhodes and sent Bishop Knight-Bruce to stop the column, which he did. A boundary commission was set up to finalise the border between the two countries. The Portuguese put in a strong claim for it to be the Sabi River which was rejected and we got the lovely Eastern Border mountains.

It does no harm to remember our roots as we also came from a rugged land with a fascinating history. After the service we all retired to Veronica and Gerry's for a welcome breakfast. Aunt Monica was very impressed with her first ANZAC day service on her first visit to Australia. I hope she returns from England to join us again.

John Maltas

Fading

 Dear Mr Barratt,
This is a poem written by me as a response to the Anzac tradition. It is a young person's impression on how little by little every year, we of the younger generation remember less and less what our freedom cost. Yours sincerely,
Julie Blick (student)

Fading . . . ever so slowly like snails
Foaming after salt has been sprinkled on them.
memories jogged by medalled marchers
passing slowly through the streets . . . and life
Will we remember?

Fading . . . a distant look haunting their
Water coloured once vibrant eyes.
Eyes that see everything, notice the
Things in life we take for granted.
Will we remember?

Fading . . . laughter sounds in their ears
as they watch children playing oblivious of the
Cost of their free lives; one they never had to pay,
Paid by countless lives, human lives.
Will we remember?

Fading . . . Death looms ever present
One by one they are dropping like flies.
All are released from earth, but
Who will remind us of the price they paid.
Will we remember?

Anzac Ceremony held on 20th April

A small bbq was held before the Anzac March in Joondalup on 20th April. Held at Neil Hawkins Park those there were Ted and Fiona Watson, Doug and Jacky Capper and family, family and friends of Percy and Gill Godwin and Tony and Noreen Emslie.

The march was held at 2.30pm and the Rhodesian Association was represented by nine members of the Association one of whom was Benetia Hodnet. Special thanks to Ted Watson who led the march and carried the Rhodesian flag.

Joyce Pretorius (nee Scrooby)

Dear Clem,
I enclose a copy of Joyce Pretorius's poem "Gratitude". When you read her biography on Page 21 the poem takes on a whole new and poignant meaning.

This happened in our times, during our period of living in Africa. We also, who visited game reserves etc, shared her feeling and love of the bush - and Rhodesia. I also enclose her poem - "The Leopard". I would like this published with her autobiography to help people get the feeling and the motive for her writing.

On a personal note. If a hunter wanted to shoot a giraffe, Joyce would send him home with his tails between his legs - and no giraffe trophy!!

Cheers,
John Durbin

Bush bride who found poetry in her surroundings JOYCE Pretorius (nee Scrooby) was born on the 19th October 1929 in Brakpan, South Africa.

As a young woman she was transferred to the Standard Bank in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia, where she met "Fanie" Pretorius who was working the family farm "Westwood". Westwood lies about 45km above the Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side, adjoining the Victoria Falls National Park. Fanie built his bride a homestead on the banks of the Zambesi where they raised three daughters, Jenny, Rita and Brenda.

The turnoff to the homestead on the old Kazangula road was marked by a large baobab, the "Sentinel" in Joyce's poem, Gratitude, on Page 19. Joyce's life on the farm was a far cry from her upbringing in the Witwatersrand, with herds of elephant, buffalo, hippo, and a multitude of other wild animals, including lion, making the lives of cattle farmers somewhat impossible.

Fanie was one of the earlier professional white hunters of Rhodesia and soon his reputation as a safari operator, and that of Joyce's administration and culinary skills, became known worldwide. Joyce's love of Rhodesia and its wild animals grew, but as the communist terrorist incursions became more numerous the family moved off the farm. Landmines and ambushes had taken their toll. A hunter had been killed and Turkish and German clients injured.

It was at this time that Joyce wrote the poem, made so poignant as at that time it seemed possible they would never return to their beloved Westwood and the bush they loved so dearly. Sadly, Joyce passed away very suddenly in July 1994. Her untimely death left a void in the lives of all who knew and loved her.

Fanie has retired and lives in the Victoria Falls village, enjoying the peace and tranqulility of the river after the days of being gored by buffalo, mauled by lion, and of course the dangers of the war years. Westwood is now run as an exclusive up-market ecotourist concern. Jenny lives with her family in New Zealand and Brenda with hers in the Eastern Transvaal. Sadly Rita passed away in 1985 - her family also lives in the Eastern Transvaal.

I thank you in anticipation of your acknowledging the author of this poem which was read at Joyce's funeral, has pride of place in our home, and has been copied by so many friends of the Pretorius family over the years.

Yours Faithfully
John Durbin

The Leopard
There's a hush in the African bush tonight,
A quiet that's ominously thrilling;
For the beautiful leopard is out on the prowl,
His body all tense for a killing!

He pads through the bush like a phantom tonight,
His quarry to take by surprise;
Gnawing hunger is spurring him on tonight,
And it shows in his fierce glowing eyes.

But fierce though he be in the bush tonight,
he needs to be wary of man;
For the hunters are out there who are waiting for him,
Will shoot to kill if they can.

Oh, beautiful beast of the African bush,
Take care as you prowl tonight;
For the prey that you seek may already be killed,
And set in the hunter's sights!

But to those who venture to read this,
Think not unkindly of man,
Think of the lucky survivors,
Who'll be free from that leopard claw,
The bushbuck, impala and duiker,
And, very many more!

And remember the law of the jungle,
That the fittest survives, not the runt,
And, also remember, dear reader,
That man was born to hunt!

Joyce Pretorius Gratitude

I have walked
where no human feet have trod,
and sat
beside still waters.
I have worshipped,
in a cathederal of tall trees,
and thanked God!
I have listened
to great orchestras, in the thundering waters
of the Zambezi,
and gentle arias, in its quieter places.
I have seen
a splendid sable sihouetted against a Rhodesian sunset,
and watched,
a herd of elephants drinking in the vlei,
I have,
prayed 'neath a star-studded sky,
and thanked God!
I have heard,
nostalgia in the cry of the fish eagle,
as it winged across waters,
and loneliness, in the wind,
as it sighed through the acacias.
I have seen
mists rising from the river in the glowing dawn,
encircling pink-tinted spurwing geese,
and gazed,
at a distant, rising cloud of dust, from which emerged
four hundred buffalo!
I have watched,
the rains pour down,
and the floods rise, and drop . . .
the rains cease, far too long . . .
Then once again
Heaven-sent rain! Growth! Gladness!
All these privileges, I have known,
and loved through the years, have become part of me,
and also through the years,
standing sentinel, our beloved Baobab!
But,
changes come, and I am sad.
But thank God,
for what I've had . . .

Joyce Pretorius

I was not amenable to pressure

As leader of rebel Rhodesia Ian Smith, below, confronted Britain's leading politicians. The Weekly Telegraph extracted this article from his book, The Great Betrayal, in which he reveals the depth of hatred behind the clashes IN November 1966 received a dramatic message from Harold Wilson. It was an invitation from him for talks on board a warship off Gibraltar.

This was indeed a climbdown for Wilson, because he had stated on a number of occasions that he was not prepared to meet me until I had returned to "legality".

By contrast, I had always made it clear I would meet him any place, any time.

We flew out of Salisbury on December 1. The air crew enjoyed talking to me and, on the first leg, the captain asked if I would like to take a turn at the controls and moved out of his seat (Ian Smith had flown Spitfires during the Second World War).

I asked him to take out the automatic pilot so that I could get a feel of the controls. At one stage someone came in and tapped the number two on his shoulder. He moved out of his seat, put his hand on my arm, "I'll be back in a minute," and walked out.

The thought passed through my mind: I wonder what Harold Wilson would say if he knew that Captain Ian Smith (the traitor from Rhodesia) was at the controls of his RAF Britannia, single-handed with no one else in sight.

After the conference, there was speculation that Wilson believed that on a British warship (HMS Tiger) I would be at a psychological disadvantage.

If so, it misfired. First my disposition is not amenable to that kind of pressure, and second, everyone on board, from the captain down, was most courteous and kind and we were shown around everything we wished to see.

On our second evening on board, my secretary brought a message from the petty officers' mess inviting us to a drink before dinner.

The chief petty officer formally welcomed me and, raising his glass, said: "To Rhodesia."

We had a good swig, and I expressed not only my thanks but also my surprise. He replied: "You don't have to worry, the complement of this ship is 674; 672 are on your side, and the other two buggers went overboard long ago.

Later that evening my secretary recounted that some of the chaps had made the point that if Harold Wilson entered their mess, he would get a frosty reception.

So any idea that I might have found myself at a psychological disadvantage was wishful thinking on Wilson's part.

I had never found Wilson personally offensive although he was maybe occasionally a trifle superior, but as that kind of behaviour never affects me, it was of no consequence.

Our problem lay in a deep-rooted distrust of him, of his constant vacillation. One minute he was agreeing with the Africans and their excessive demands the next he was trying to come to an agreement with us in conflict with his concessions to the Africans.

There was a competent: member of the British team Marcia Williams (later Lady Falkender), who was always available and able to deal with any of our problems We started talking mid-morning on Friday, continuing for long hours on Saturday and Sunday, after dinner at night and even into the early hours of the morning.

As most people knew, Wilson was a master tactician, if one avenue was closed to him, he swiftly moved to another. He reminded me that if we failed to agree, the matter would go to the UN, to the embarrassment of both himself and myself.

I was unable to accept this as both Conservative and Labour governments in Britain had emphasised on a number of occasions that our problem was an internal matter between our two countries and that they would brook no interference from outsiders.

Moreover, Britain could always exercise its veto at the UN.

Again, he quickly changed his tactic. Circumstances had changed dramatically, he said, and Britain was faced with the possibility of the Commonwealth breaking up over the Rhodesian issue.

We no longer had any friends in the world, he declared. But, I asked, was I not correct that, at the prime ministers' conference the previous month, Australia, Canada and New Zealand had been opposed to taking the matter, to the UN? India believed it I was a matter for Britain alone, and a couple of the black leaders were indifferent.

He seemed stunned for a few moments, so I went on: the option he was placing before us was UN sanctions, and there was much evidence indicating that this would place us in no more difficulty than obtained in our current situation. The alternative was for Rhodesia to sign its own death warrant - what would he do under those circumstances? There was no comeback from him.

The main problem was that time was running out, said Wilson, and we had to have finality within 24 hours so that he could take the decision back to his Cabinet in London.

I repeated that his proposal was unacceptable but I was prepared to take it back to my Government to see if there was any change of opinion. Wilson got a bit warm under the collar, stating that he had been led to believe that I was attending the conference with full power to make a final agreement.

I think that I did raise my voice, for the first time at the conference, when I barked across the table at Wilson: "What could be more final than my answer, which is no?"

The thought of Harold Wilson, of all people, questioning my integrity was not something I found easy to accept. I had made it absolutely clear that the British terms for a return to legality were unacceptable. Wilson looked a bit like a pricked balloon. I strongly emphasised the point that having arrived at agreement on the new constitution, we had solved the most difficult problem.

To allow the thing to founder over the mechanics of implementation would go down in history as a dreadful blunder on the part of Wilson and his Labour Government. Wilson then asked if he could have a private discussion with his team. After about 20 minutes, Wilson proposed, in somewhat subdued manner, that we should regard the proposals as a working document which we would refer to our respective Cabinets for acceptance.

He added that our reply should be a clear acceptance or rejection - either "Yes" or "No" - and the British Government would do likewise. Sometimes he behaved like a normal adult, at other times like an adolescent trying to establish his authority. I replied that what they did was their affair, and we would decide on our own action.

When we disembarked from the Tiger it was after midnight on Sunday, December 4. The ship had moved in close to the harbour, and as we looked up from our little boat below, it made a truly impressive picture. I saluted it, and said: "Thanks for the kindness you showed to us. Apart from the Labour Party politicians, it was a memorable and stimulating experience."

The Great Betrayal by Ian Smith, published by Blake, from Telegraph Books Direct, PO Box 1992, Epping, Essex, CM16 6 JL Great Britain.

Mugabe's brutal troops 'forced mother to eat baby's flesh'

 EVERYBODY knew about it, almost everyone ignored it. Officially the brutal reign of terror throughout Matabeleland by Robert Mugabe's troops in the days following independence never happened. In recent weeks a long-awaited report by the Catholic Commission for Justice cataloguing the outrage has been leaked. It was handed to Mugabe, who saw fit to keep it under wraps. But the truth will out. The South African press and, surprisingly, the independent press in Zimbabwe have quoted from the report at length. This one was published by the Mail&Guardian in South Africa.

THE first details of a shock report of Zimbabwe's government troops' atrocities in camp Bhalagwe and elsewhere have emerged despite Mugabe's curtain of silence. One of the untold horrors of Africa - the atrocities perpetrated by Robert Mugabe's troops in the southern province of Matabeleland after independence -can finally be told.

The nightmarish story of how Mugabe's Korean-trained troops put down an insurrection in the early 1980s has been detailed in a report drawn up by Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. The shock findings were presented to Mugabe in March, but the country's eight Catholic bishops have backed off a pledge to release it publicly. A copy has, however, been obtained by the Mail & Guardian. The report is based on testimony gathered from more than 1000 people over a five-year period. It sweeps aside a curtain of silence which has seen families being refused death certificates for corpses of their loved ones, because officialdom refuses to recognise their murders. Only one member of Mugabe's Cabinet has ever expressed the slightest regret for the atrocities.

The commission focused its investigation on two case-study areas, the Tsholotsho and Nyamandlovu districts in Matabeleland North and Matobo in Matabeleland South. Matabeleland in the early 1980s was the centre of antagonism between Joshua Nkomo's Zipra and Mugabe's Zanla guerrilla armies. Tensions were exacerbated by a South African-backed destabilisation campaign. Dissidents carried out atrocities in the region - including the killing of missionaries - but on a minuscule scale compared to those of state security forces acting in the name of law and order.

In August 1981, 106 instructors arrived from North Korea and began training what was to be known as Five Brigade, or Gukurahundi - Shona for "the rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains". Made up mostly of Shona-speaking recruits from Zanla, wearing distinctive uniforms including red berets, armed with AK-47s and driving Korean vehicles, which quickly fell to pieces in the rough Zimbabwe terrain, the crack unit was to terrorise Matabeleland.

The government introduced a series of curfews in Matabeleland, journalists were prohibited from leaving the provincial capital of Bulawayo and Five Brigade set to work. In the words of the report: "Within weeks of being mobilised at the end of January 1983 under Colonel Perence Shiri, Five Brigade was responsible for mass murders, beatings and property burnings in the communal living areas of Northern Matabeleland where hundreds of thousands of Zapu supporters lived.

"Five Brigade passed first through Tsholotsho, spreading out rapidly through Lupane and Nkayi, and their impact on all these communal areas was shocking. Within the space of six weeks more than 2000 civilians had died, hundreds of homesteads had been burnt and thousands of civilians had been beaten. Most of the dead were killed in public executions involving between one and 12 people at a time."

The report offers a chilling recitation of atrocities, describing how villagers would be assembled at a central point - such as a school, or borehole - harangued and subjected to mass beatings which were often followed by killings of those whose names were read from death lists. "Villagers frequently report being forced to sing songs praising Zanu-PF while dancing on the mass graves of their families and fellow villagers, killed and buried minutes earlier." Five Brigade would regularly forbid the badly injured from seeking medical attention, in some cases returning the day after the initial assaults to finish them off.

There is a tribal belief in Matabeleland that the tears of the living need to be spilled to release the souls of the dead and allow them to be at rest. Five Brigade made a practice of forbidding mourning and the commission says there were instances of relatives being shot because they wept. Burial was also often forbidden, so families were forced to watch the corpses of their loved ones rotting in the sun and being mauled by scavengers.

The commission reports that there were some exceptions to the depravity and cites, as an example, an instance in early 1983 when a commander at Ndawana village in Tsholotsho ordered all the inhabitants into a hut and then set fire to it. "As the burning thatch began to fall in on screaming villagers the commander left and another member of Five Brigade immediately opened the hut door and released the villagers before any were burnt to death. He took huge personal risk . "

But otherwise the report contains a litany of atrocity reminiscent of Rwanda, or the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. Some examples from the Tsholotsho and Nyamandlovu districts in Matabeleland North:

The commission says that killing was less widespread in Matabeleland South, but many "horrific atrocities" were recorded. "A four-month-old infant was axed three times and the mother forced to eat the flesh of her dead child. An 18-year-old girl was raped by six soldiers and then killed. "An 11-year-old child had her vagina burnt with plastic and was later shot. Twin infants were buried alive."

Buy/Sell and Exchange

 HOLIDAY HOME
MIJAS SPAIN: Lovely village house available for holiday lets. Two double bedrooms, 1 single bedroom, 2 recreation rooms, kitchen large roof garden, fully furnished and equipped 150 pounds per week or 550 pounds per month Contact Carol Phone on (08) 9572 1621.

FOR SALE
For Sale: Dinner, Tea and Coffee Service 18 place setting, complete with all accessories. $1,200 Tel: 9446 9262.

l L.P. record of the Declaration of Independence with speeches by I.D. Smith and Harold Wilson. Personally autographed by Mr J.H. Howman (Rhodesian Cabinet Minister). Selection of Mint Rhodesian stamps, singles and sets 1953, 1955, 1965, 1967, 1971. Details on application. Complete set of Thai bronze cutlery as new. $150. Details/offers: Geoffrey Atkins,18 Lena Place, Tuart Hill, W.A. 6060. Phone: 9349 9292

l HOUSE TO LET
Karrinyup - $85 per week. 2 bed, Lounge/Dining etc. Reticulated garden. Convenient shops/bus. Granny flat at rear (occupied by elderly Rhodie lady). Share gardening costs. Phone 9401 9634 after 6.30pm.

l BOOKS FOR SALE
The Benefactor's Monkey
by Christopher Morten
In 1978, years before AIDS made world headlines, a New Death emerged silently amidst the bloodshed and turmoil of an African bush war. At the time Chris Morten was one of the few warned of the impending catastrophe. His compelling novel is a gripping account of how and why a rogue virus might have appeared at this crucial point in history.
$13 (of which $3 goes to Rhodesia Association)
Contact Doug Capper on 9307 4790

Everybody's Different
by Joyce and Dick Price
This book is a review in four parts.

$5 contact Doug Capper on 9307 4790

Banana accusers bent on revenge

DOZENS of students, soccer players and soldiers have come forward to complain about sexual harassment by Zimbabwean former president Canaan Banana after he was accused in court of being a homosexual rapist, a local newspaper has reported.

A senior police source said that police hoped to bring Banana, a 61-year-old Methodist minister, to court within the next month, according to the Financial Gazette. Homosexual acts are a criminal offence in Zimbabwe.

"A lot of allegations, from dozens of people, continue to pour in, to the extent that we are failing to cope with the workload," the newspaper quoted the policeman as saying. The allegations against the former president first surfaced in February when a policeman on trial for murder said he had been driven to drink and drugs by Banana's sexual abuse when he was stationed at State House as an aide decamp in the early 1980s.

The new allegations against Banana are apparently linked to his well-known love of soccer - he created his own State House team - and to his present position as professor of theology at the University of Zimbabwe.

The former president, who held the post from independence in 1980 until 1987, has also played peacekeeping roles as an "eminent person" for the Commonwealth and the Organisation of African Unity. The police sources said he had been "extremely cooperative with the investigations."

The allegations are an embarrasment for Robert Mugabe, who has waged a campaign against homosexuality, describing gays as "pigs" and "perverts". He has said homosexuality is an imported western decadence unknown in African society.

Mugabe, who won power as prime minister at independence in 1980, appointed Banana to the figurehead presidency before taking over as executive president when he changed the constitution in 1987.

Mugabe's view of opposition role

ROBERT Mugabe has said African opposition parties should not overthrow ruling parties but should co-exist with them to resolve problems
"Some opposition parties believe that they must undo the government in power by whatever means, and that has not really portrayed our opposition parties in good light," Mugabe told a regional conference of Commonwealth parliamentarians in Harare.
He said although rival parties were in opposition, they belonged to each other and were one country with one national anthem flying the same flag. They had one nationality.
Some ruling parties had not treated the opposition fairly, Mugabe said, adding that some opposition parties were merely family units. Mugabe's 150-member parliament has only three non-ruling party members.

POLITICAL arm-twisting by Zimbabwe's Ministry of Information has forced Ericsson International AB to sever its ties with Econet, for which it will be favourably considered in the award of future tenders.
At the centre of the saga is the lucrative US$96 million ($1,06 billion) Matabeleland digitilisation project, which has now been tipped to go Ericsson's way following its dramatic announcement ditching Strive Masiyiwa's Econet.

GET this . . . Robert Mugabe came out with this gem whilst commenting on the current situation in the Congo, and an upcoming visit to Zimbabwe by South African president Nelson Mandela: "Really, I think it's for the better for (former Zairean leader) Mobutu.
"For three decades he has done absolutely nothing to develop that country other than amass wealth for himself."
The comment comes at a time when his own family has been plundering special funds aimed at providing homes for Zimbabwe's poor. His new wife has reportedly spent $6 million of it on a fancy new spread in Harare. A CONSORTIUM of six businessmen, among them Leo Mugabe, Ishmael Kadungure, Patrick Zhuwawo and James Makamba, have formed a television broadcasting company which is understood to be taking over ZBC's TV2, and possibly Radio 4 as well.
So advanced are the group's plans that by July 1 1997 programmes will come on air under the trading name Flame Lily Broadcasting or Joy TV.

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